One of the first vinyl albums I bought was the great movie sounds of John Barry. You could say he provided the soundtrack to my early film going. It wasn't just the Bond themes but also Zulu; The Ipcress File;the knack and Seance on a Wet Afternoon. Then there were also the TV themes most notably the Persuaders but also Vendetta. The man was a genius.

Bernard Herrmann Elmer Bernstein Jerry Goldsmith John Williams John Barry ...hard to believe only Williams left. Thanks for creating the soundtrack to my teens. Please listen to Blessed Illusion by John Barry (Album - Eternal Echoes). Everything great about Barry can be heard on this track.

Bernard Herrmann Elmer Bernstein Jerry Goldsmith John Williams John Barry ...hard to believe only Williams left. Thanks for creating the soundtrack to my teens. Please listen to Blessed Illusion by John Barry (Album - Eternal Echoes). Everything great about Barry can be heard on this track.

The only music that my Father played to me that really connected with me, Barry has had a profound efect on my love of music and I remember fondly playing the vinyl copies of the Bond soundtrack from my Dad's collection. Scoring with such skill and originality, a unmistakeable sound that wasat times the best thing about films it was accompanying, You Only Live Twice, Moonraker & View to a Kill are awful films but Barry's score were always class and the films themselves didn't deserve such quality. Yes no one said excitement quite like John Barry!

Sad to hear this news. His work was so varied with the epic sound of ZULU, the melancholy of MIDNIGHT COWBOY, the haunting melodies of DANCES WITH WOLVES alongside his well-known action pace of the BOND soundtracks. Quite simply, he was the one composer who made me realise just how much a good soundtrack can add to a movie. RIP Mr Barry.

To be honest I'm still partially in shock, so this'll probably ramble a bit, but I wanted to write something and share a story, I hope that a couple of people at least find it interesting!!!

Although my stepdad had some John Williams soundtracks, Star Wars, Superman etc, and I enjoyed them, it was Barry's Bond music which I really credit with getting me into film music. The soundtracks were not that easy to find so I used to [I was around 16/17] play the videos of the films and record the music off TV onto cassettes, yes there was dialogue but I didn't care. I think I listened to those godawful quality tapes more than any pop music at the time.

Of course I eventually built up a [proper] collection.I Fast forward to 1999, and I was getting engaged. She wasn't as film music mad as me but I was constantly getting her more and more into the cinema. One day we were debating what song to have as the first dance at our wedding and although we mentioned a few possiblities, none of them seemed right, partially because our taste in music was so different. We decided to leave it and watch a Bond film. That film was On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which she'd never seen and I hadn't seen in ages. When the song We Have All The Time In The World came on during the 'love' montage scene, we both looked at each other and said "THAT'S IT"!!!.

The following day we were talking about what music to have for my wife's entrance down the aisle. We wanted something vaguely 'classical' in style but not too well known and obvious. It was to be played on the organ ,so of course we wanted something easy to find sheet music of. Now we had both watched Somewhere In Time a few weeks before and loved the music, but of course neither of us thought about using any film music for her entrance, it would seem silly to everyone else for a start. Then I said "why NOT use a piece of film music, we can't decide on anything else"?. She seemed keen, now I can't rememebr whether she or I came up with the Somewhere In Time theme, but once again ,we looked at each other and just KNEW. Now I'm often fond of 'learning' pieces of film music and playing them on the piano, so it was easy for me to write a shortened version of the Somewhere In Time theme on sheet music for piano/organ. The minute I hear the organist play the first few notes of it during a rehearsal, I felt a shiver down my spine [in a good way!!]. God, it sounded SO good on the organ!

So we had a bit of a John Barry thing going on at our wedding. Of course by then she was almost as big a Barry fan as I was. Not a week would go by without some Barry being played in the house or the car. There is something spiritual about his music, something that touches the soul. Barry's music has been criticised by some for being overly simple, but he can achieve with a few notes more than many other composers can't achieve with a thousand. He's gone now, but I have no doubt that I'll never stop listening to his music.

Thankyou John Barry, your music has touched me in ways it is impossible to really describe, and of course my wedding would not have been anywhere near so special without it

He wasn't as prolific as Moroconne or Goldsmith or as creative as Williams, but his epic romantic stuff is unlikely to be equalled, let alone surpassed;

All you can say about his bond with Bond is that the scores matched the films and the persona of the main character in a way that we have never seen...........the sense of menace, urgency, irony, grandeur and seduction; pitch-perfect in virtually every music cue he did.

David Arnold seems like a good guy and has done a fine job continuing the same style, but if he doesn't include the 007 theme in the next film as a tribute, I fear he will die and propel straight to Hades.